The poor condition of Marshall County’s roadways and a shortage of skilled young professionals are two of the major issues the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation hopes to address with its Marshall County Vision. Residents, along with community and business leaders, got the chance to learn more about the plans during a town hall meeting Saturday in Plymouth.
MCEDC President and CEO Jerry Chavez says the Vision aims to help attract new businesses to the county. “I think we want to do that for the sake of strengthening the economy,” he says. “I don’t think anybody can argue that when you have business attraction, when you increase that capital investment by companies coming into the area, there is a spillover effect. More houses are being bought. More cars are being bought. They’re adding to the tax base, right? That’s what economic development strives to do on a daily basis.”
However, when people come to Marshall County, they often get a poor first impression. Wade Berger with CTE Solutions says the road system is a big problem, “I had one of our customers come in four-and-a-half years ago, something like that. He came in again this last year in 2015, and the first thing he asked me, he says ‘Hey, the place looks great, but what’s going on with your community, you guys struggling? Is your industry dying?’ It’s like, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘My gosh, four-and-a-half years ago, your road was horrible, and they’re worse now because nothing’s been done to them in four-and-a-half years. This is driving through your industrial park.'” Chavez pointed out that while road usage continues to increase, funding for roads has been going down.
In addition to improved roads, the MCEDC has come up with a $27 million community development plan for the next ten years. It contains six areas of improvements to try to make the county friendlier to new businesses: Metronet extension, shell building construction, improved infrastructure for industrial development, an entrepreneur hub, affordable housing, and workforce development.
As part of these efforts, MCEDC officials stressed the need to attract skilled workers to Marshall County. MCEDC board member and Plymouth High School principal Jim Condon says when he’s looking for new staff members, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find qualified people willing to move to Marshall County. He says there are various reasons for this, “The young kids want to live in the larger places where there’s more to do, and the big key is – you’ve talked about housing, but you haven’t talked about workforce-ready housing. When I hire young people who are starting their careers, I can’t put them in a house that’s $180,000, and those houses are really hard to find right now, and I think some attention needs to be given to that.”
Others during Saturday’s meeting said the county already has many attractive features, such as its proximity to major cities, good school corporations, and several recreation opportunities. The challenge is to get that message across to people considering moving there.
When it comes to the issue of how to pay for the proposals outlined in the Marshall County Vision, Chavez is calling for the implementation of a Local Option Highway User Tax (LOHUT), as well as a County Economic Development Income Tax (CEDIT). Chavez says for residents earning $34,000 a year, the CEDIT would cost them $1.63 a week. Funding is also expected to come from Marshall County’s share of the Regional Cities grant.
